On 24 February, Dr Barbara Čurda (Marie Curie fellow, University Clermont Auvergne and French Institute of Pondicherry) will deliver a talk titled “Feminine agency and social value in shifting urban environments: the transmission of Odissi dance in Bhubaneswar”.
This talk is organised by the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) and the Center for Research on Culture and Gender (CRCG). It can be followed both in person and online.
Details
- Monday 24 February, 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)
- on-campus: Faculteitszaal (first floor), Campus Boekentoren, Blandijnberg 2, Ghent
- online: please register here
About the lecture
Drawing on ethnographic data from the early 2020s, this presentation explores the relation between women’s agency and their degree of adherence to patriarchal values in an environment subjected to rapid and intense changes. It focuses on women practising Odissi dance, considered by the government of India to be one of the “Indian classical dances”, in the urban context of Bhubaneswar, capital city of the Indian State Odisha, in which these practices thrive.
India has undergone rapid socio-economic and technological transformations in the past decades. Moreover, the city of Bhubaneswar has experienced a particular stark growth. This has affected the socio-economic fabric that support Odissi dance practices, based on a social order regulated by pronounced gender asymmetries. How do these changes affect the gendered equilibrium? What are the present constraints and opportunities? How do values and norms evolve in such a context?
About the speaker
Barbara Čurda is an anthropologist, and has been working as a Marie Curie fellow on the MSCA-IF-GF project GATRODI* (Gender asymmetry in the transmission of Odissi dance in India – a case study). The project interrogates relational dynamics and conceptions of know-how amongst dance practitioners, using qualitative and ethnographic methods.
Her research interests include gender, inequalities, corporeal practices, heritage, and South Asia. She holds a PhD in anthropology from the Université Blaise Pascal (France), and has taught extensively in the higher education sector and notably at the Université Clermont Auvergne (France).
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101033051.
For more information: carine.plancke@ugent.be